Populism and Conservatism are Compatible, People

Most everything that I talk about here on TRC is about conservatism. Simply, conservatives follow these three core tenets:

Limited central government, seperation of powers, constitutional law

Free enterprise and a good healthy, market driven ecomomy

Strong national defense, a pro-America First foreign policy, and limited international involvement, particularly when it hurts America.

But, I am also a populist.

Now people like me make the traditional right wing cringe because I refuse to follow the party line. In fact, I am quite content to say that I am, now, NOT a Republican. So when we get to the general election, I will choose the best candidate, whoever that may be.

Being a populist means that I am more about the people than the government. I take the Limited Central Government principle of my conservatism very seriously. In fact, I am quite of the mindset that I don’t want government in my life unless *I* deem it necessary, not the state. The statists can go straight to hell for all I care. Republican or Democrat. They are my natural adversary.

But it’s interesting how the statist GOP RINO’s out there, the party hacks and hucksters, they drones that follow the GOP elephant wherever it may amble, when they get this idea that these things are a good idea:

They begin to start “working with Democrats and liberals/socialists/progressives on things like gun control and underpin it with “emergency actions”, not without a warrant, or the like. Like the Patriot Act. Like Network Neutrality. Like immigration (hear that, Rubio?) Once they get into powerful positions, they begin to flounder on what conservative principles truly are.

They start promoting free trade, even at the expense of the US getting screwed, just because we want to play nice with the rest of the world.

Budgets start going up (you hear that, Paul Ryan and John Boehner?), expansions of government policing power (Bush), or advocation of state health care (Romney), while never actually using real gravitas and eliminating government wasted spending, entitlements that are doing nothing but add more to the problem.

In short, they become no different than the Democrats. Is it any wonder why it’s so difficult to tell them apart when they are in Congress?

Power corrupts. And absolute power corrupts, absolutely. – William Shakespeare

There has been this push to say that populists are not “true conservatives”. In fact, there has been this rather distasteful clamoring that about who are the “real” conservatives and who are the fakes, just because one person supports Cruz, another supports Kasich or supported Rubio or Carson. God help you if you are a conservative and support Trump – oh, no, you can’t be a “REAL” conservative to support Trump – because Trump isn’t a conservative at all.

Ho hum. More of the same. Tear down the opposition and make our guy look better. Sound just like Democrats.

I believe the upcoming GOP convention should not at all, not EVER, discount the vox populi. Now again, doesn’t really matter to me since I’m not a Republican. I’ll vote for your candidate because I sure as hell ain’t voting for Hillary. And that’s where it ends for me.

But I’ll ask you folks this question: how many of you are going to stay home on election day if Trump wins, while rubbing your wounds over why you pulled the lever for John McCain or Mitt Romney?

Hillary is waiting for your answer.

So, last thing, to my fellow conservatives. Don’t hate me because I am also a government-hating populist. Understand me because I believe “We The People” is more important than any other words in our Constitution.